Well, we just had a week off from school for our term 3 break. I will write about my trip to Thailand in a different entry. I was thinking that I don't write about school on here very often, so I should probably start. I have been blogging about all of my trips! Haha. Anyway, I can't believe that 3 terms have already passed by since I have started my new adventure teaching in Jakarta. I think it has flown by! Summer vacation will be here before I know it.
I know I wrote before how my Primary 4 class was a little hard to handle. They still are, but I think they have gotten better with their behaviour. Of course, some days they are the same as they always were, but then other days they are great. I have figured out some classroom management strategies that seem to work for them. That is something that I can always work on and I hope that is something that I improve on for the next year.
I feel like I have also gotten used to the flow of things at the school. I really have learned how things work in the school and how things should run in the classroom. I have gotten used to how fast paced the subject material is and and how the lessons need to be done. The pupils have to have so much information covered in a short amount of time for a test. I have been able to cover all the material needed with my students before the tests. I was having troubles with that during the first couple of terms.
This first week back has gone pretty smoothly. I feel like it was so calm, but I am sure things will pick up soon. We start remedial and co-curricular activities again next week, so that will be two days that I have to stay back after school. It has been really nice to come home at 2:45 pm everyday this week. I have been keeping up with my marking so that I don't have a ton to do on the weekends or at night (that was my New Year's Resolution).
Just before the term break, we had the annual Sports Festival Week. The school is divided into 4 houses (Blue, Green, Red and Yellow) and they compete in sports events throughout the week to earn points for their house. I am in the Blue house and we got 2nd place this year. I guess in the past years, our house has always lost. We are improving! Yay :)
They participated in events such as soccer, badminton, sack race, basketball, shoer race and the tug-of-war, just to name some of them. I think sometimes I was more excited than the students! Haha. Although they can be pretty competitive, they still have a lot of fun.
You're probably wondering what the shoer race is. I didn't know what it was either until the day of the event. The students have to take their shoes off and put them in a box at the end of the court and mix them with the others on their team. They must run down to the box from the starting line, put their shoes on as fast as they can and tie them, and then run back and tag the next person in line. I could not believe how many kids in Primary 3 and 4 that could not tie their shoes! The Blue team lost because there was a student who could not tie his shoes properly. He was sitting there forever. Their nannies tie their shoes for them, so they don't know how. I just couldn't believe it....Haha!
We also had some very sad news this week. One of the other American teachers that worked at the KJ campus passed away. He fell from the 29th floor of his apartment building. They are not real sure what happened yet. That was so sad to hear. I only met him at orientation and maybe saw him a couple of other times at meetings. I feel so sorry for his family and his friends that were close to him. It was such sad news to hear after the term break. Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers as they are going through this hard time.
Well, the weekend is here and I am going to relax, do some lesson plans, and get ready for the next week of teaching. I hope that everyone has a good weekend :)
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